The 2025 Indian Wells tournament is about to begin, representing the first ATP Masters 1000 and the third WTA 1000 tournament of the season.
Former champions include Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Iga Swiatek, and Serena Williams.
The tournament will take place at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, located in California, having been held there since 1987.
Often called the ‘fifth slam’, Indian Wells has the fifth-highest attendance of any tennis tournament, with the main court having a capacity of 16,100 spectators – only behind Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open.
The event helps comprise half of what is known as the ‘sunshine double’, a series of hard-court tournaments in North America, with the Miami Open – taking place in late March – forming the other half.
Main-draw matches will take place from March 5th – March 16th for both the ATP and the WTA.
At the 2024 edition, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek lifted the singles trophies at Indian Wells.
The Spaniard won his second consecutive title at the ‘fifth slam’, in a repeat of the previous year’s final, defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 6-1 to lift his fifth Masters 1000 title.
Meanwhile, Swiatek defeated Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 in the final to win her second Indian Wells title, in a repeat of the 2022 final.
For the WTA, Aryna Sabalenka leads the way as the top seed, with Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Jessica Pegula filling out the spaces of the other top four seeds.
Emma Raducanu has decided to participate in the tournament, after accepting extra security following a man displaying ‘fixated behaviour’ towards her during the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.
Alexander Zverev will arrive at Indian Wells as the ATP’s top seed, with the defending champion headlining the other half of the draw. Novak Djokovic will be seeking a historic 100th title, whilst 2022 champion Taylor Fritz will also feature.
World No 16 Barbora Krejcikova will not compete, due to an ongoing back injury.
Jannik Sinner, the world No 1, also will not compete at Indian Wells, after he accepted a three-month ban for failing two doping tests during the tournament in 2024.
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How many points will Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev drop in March?
The 2025 Indian Wells ATP and WTA draws will take place on March 3rd, from 3pm – 4pm local time.
With Sinner unable to play until May, both Alcaraz and Zverev will be looking to get closer to the Italian’s ranking spot.
However, the Spaniard is defending 1000 points from the 2024 edition, meaning he cannot reach the world No 2 spot. The German is only defending 150 points, with a hypothetical deep run putting considerable distance between himself and Alcaraz.
